Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was a French architect, celebrated for his restorations of medieval buildings. Born in Paris in 1814, some of his most famous projects include the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris, the Basilica of Saint-Denis, the Mont Saint-Michel and the medieval fortress of Carcassonne. Beyond his practical work, Viollet-le-Duc authored several influential texts, such as the Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle (Dictionary of French Architecture from the 11th to the 16th Century). His last restoration project was the Lausanne Cathedral. After a summer of hiking in the Alps, he died in Lausanne on September 17, 1879 and is buried in the Bois-de-Vaux cemetery.
